Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez earned his first victory of the season in Wednesday’s stage 3 of the Basque Tour. Out-sprinting his breakaway companions, Rodriguez took the win ahead of Sergio Henao (Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar). “Purito” moved himself into second place on the general classification as well, with the hardest climbing stages still to come on Thursday and Friday. The win makes a total of 16 for Team Katusha, with two wins coming within 30-minutes today as Alex Kristoff won a sprint in Scheldeprijs.
- This win is so important to me as it has been more than a year since I won. I’ve always had the good legs but I’ve had so much bad luck. I started to be afraid that the bad dream would never end. This is a new beginning for me, - said Joaquim Rodriguez. – Thank you Team Katusha for the support during the day. It’s a pity that a good Alexander Kolobnev was in a crash.
- We are very happy for the stage win. It’s important for the team and for Joaquim after a long period of more than one year where he has had some problems with crashes, injuries and illness. This victory will help his confidence for this race and those in the future. The entire team raced very well today. We were unlucky with the crash of Kolobnev, Alex crashed really badly. We hope he will be able to continue tomorrow, the final decision we will make in the morning. Today, all the team did as we planned and it was a good stage, - said team director José Azevedo.
Rodriguez won this same stage in 2011.
- It was a difficult day. It was a fast stage and also dangerous because of the wind. Movistar did a nice performance the entire day, making it hard by imposing a high pace all day long. When Henao attacked, I saw it was the right moment, so I went with him but he went so fast. First I could just hang in his wheel and then I cooperated in order to stay in the front till the finish. The sprint was not so easy. I knew I had to take the last corner as the first rider but also Henao knew this. Fortunately I was able to pass him in the last meters, - said Rodriguez.
At 170,7 km, stage 3 began in Vitoria-Gasteiz and ended in Zumarraga and featured 8-rated climbs. The final time up the Antigua proved the perfect launching point for the GC hopefuls. Henao went first with Rodriguez immediately on the wheel and Quintana moving to join the group. Over the top of the 20% climb, the three riders plunged to the finish line in Zumarraga. Rodriguez stayed in the position he wanted before putting up a burst of speed that carried him over the finish line to win the stage. The top three GC of Henao, Rodriguez and Quintana are all on the same time with the order determined by finishes on the first two stages.
Stage 4 is set to be the hardest day of climbing with the finish atop the Eibar (Arrate) after 162,2 km. The stage begins in today’s finish town of Zumarraga. This climb is used often and is familiar to the riders so those looking for separation will know when to attack to see results at the finish line.
After stage 3 Team Katusha moved into the lead of the team’s classification.
Photo credit: (c) Tim De Waele
